Mrs. Sequin paused with her hand on the banister

"It was a great wrong I did you, Don; can you forgive me?"

"Tell me quick! How do you know about the shooting?"




CHAPTER I


It was springtime in Kentucky, gay, irresponsible, Southern
springtime, that comes bursting impetuously through highways and
byways, heedless of possible frosts and impossible fruitions. A
glamour of tender new green enveloped the world, and the air was sweet
with the odor of young and growing things. The brown river, streaked
with green where the fresher currents of the creeks poured in, circled
the base of a long hill that dominated the landscape from every
direction.

In spite of the fact that impertinent railroads were beginning to
crawl about its feet, and the flotsam and jetsam of the adjacent city
were gradually being deposited at its base, it nevertheless reared its
granite shoulders proudly and defiantly against the sky.

From the early days when the hill and rich surrounding farm lands had
been granted to the old pioneer William Carsey, one generation of
Carseys after another had lived in the stately old mansion that now